Unlike some who may be put off by the plastic construction here, I like it just fine. It also helps it to be significantly lighter than metal ones. I don't see any downside, as the ball head is PLENTY sturdy.It's got a great magnetic base which instills confidence. Which can also be unscrewed from the ball head and moved to separate mounting screw, opposite from the tension adjustment knob. The ball itself can be tightened to any degree without any internal flexure being readily noticeable. And can easily be adjusted to any amount of friction desired, for fine framing adjustment of your device. The "multi-use head" platform is highly ingenious (and also completely removable). It'll work with even the largest phone inside of a thick heavy case, a regular action camera, or virtually anything else with a 1/4" by 20 screw (3/8th adapter included also). My honest appraisal is, I like it and will put it to good long-term use.While it's no Arca Swiss going at greater than $300 (at least in the old days) it'll do virtually everything you require.The rubber covering on the magnet holding disc (also a 1/4 by 20 screw-in) is sufficient to reliably keep from marring surfaces such as automobile paint, etc.It's a well thought out and executed design by someone, or several, who actually knew what they were doing.For its price I definitely recommend this. I've been messing with cameras since 1986 pretty regularly.One could likely even mount an old film medium format camera on this (a quite large camera). Yes, it's plastic (other than the actual red internal ball, which by appearances is aluminum) but of a "correct type" for the job. If you were to drop it onto concrete, it'd likely survive. At least, that'd be my guess!It's a good deal.